News Releases

Access Routes Established for Cleanup of Beede Waste Oil Superfund Site in Plaistow, N.H.

(Boston, Mass. – Oct. 13, 2010) - EPA, in consultation with the N.H. Dept. of Environmental Services, has announced the preferred route of access to the Beede Site necessary for the performance of the cleanup. After careful study of seven identified potential access routes, EPA believes that “Access Route D,” with “Access Route A1” as a back-up option, presents the best option for access to the site.

The two access routes comply with federal and state laws and regulations, and can be implemented in a way that will minimize impacts to local residential areas and infrastructure, to the extent practicable, such that material can be conveyed to and from the site in the most efficient, cost effective, safe and non-disruptive manner possible during site cleanup activities.

EPA recognizes that all access routes present some level of inconvenience or impact to local residents and infrastructure during the estimated 9-to-18 months of trucking. But the 40-acre Beede Site cannot be cleaned up without soil removal. Potential risks to human health and the environment, and to local drinking water wells, cannot be adequately addressed unless contaminated soil is removed. To help inform its decision, EPA consulted with site neighbors, Plaistow Town officials, the NHDES, the NH Department of Transportation, and T.Y. Lin International Consultants (traffic experts hired by EPA), as well as the written evaluation of all possible site access routes provided by the Beede Performing Group, the parties responsible for the cleanup, as part of its court agreement.

Access Route D involves creating a temporary access point onto Main Street (Route 121A), at the intersection with Danville Road, from which trucks will travel to Route 125. Access Route A1 was chosen as the backup option for further evaluation if it is discovered that Access Route D cannot be implemented. Access Route A1 involves having trucks turn left onto Kelley Road and then left again onto Main Street, before heading to Route 125. It is important to note that the exact A1 driveway location has not yet been confirmed. Design logistics for using these two points of access will be further evaluated as part of the Preliminary Cleanup Design Report. A carefully engineered traffic control plan (including a plan to avoid, to the extent possible, project related trucking during periods of school busing), accompanied by appropriate roadway improvements, will make either Access Route D or Access Route A1 safe for the limited-duration project-related trucking activity.

The other routes considered and eliminated are as follows:

Route A2 is the site’s existing entrance and was eliminated because of the dip and bend in the road which limits the trucks’ line of sight exiting the site, the road condition, as well as the number of Kelley Road residents that trucks would pass on this relatively narrow residential road. Although these issues could be addressed through planning; in comparison to Access Routes D and A1, more measures would need to be taken to do so.

Route B would involve building a bridge over Kelley Brook and its high quality wetlands and floodplain to Old County Road. Although this route would have trucks passing a low number of residential properties en-route to Route 125, it does not comply with state and federal laws and regulations regarding wetlands and floodplains which prohibit destruction of wetlands and floodplains where there is a practicable alternative to such activity. Because there are other practicable access routes for the Beede Site, Access Route B cannot be selected.

Routes C1a, C1b, C2, which would direct trucks directly onto Route 125, were eliminated because the NH Department of Transportation regards these options as the least desirable and critically, use of access roads C1a and C1b would impact floodplains, and federal and state laws prohibit impact to a floodplain if practicable alternatives exist, which they do for Beede.

During the period of greatest truck activity (during removal of contaminated soil), the numbers of trucks entering and leaving the site could vary from approximately 30 to 43 trucks per day and take 9 to 18 months to complete (estimates take into account avoiding school bus operations). The longer the trucking duration, the fewer number of trucks will be used per day.

The Beede Performing Group, under the supervision of EPA and NHDES, will develop a Preliminary Cleanup Design Report for Access Routes D and A1. It is expected that the full design work will be completed in 2011. The construction schedule will be determined as part of the completed design. Some cleanup could begin in 2011, but the bulk of the cleanup is expected to start in 2012 and last approximately four years (trucking of contaminated soil and clean fill is only one part of the effort and is expected to take about 9 to 18 months). The groundwater treatment will continue until cleanup standards are meet which is estimated to take 15 years after the on-site source of groundwater contamination has been treated.